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SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,257

DIY pallet home building

Several pallet shelters and tiny home exist in this topic Climbing out of poverty

One needs land and knowledge of zoning so as to be able to build but once that is possible then one needs material that can come from recycled materials to make a shelter, starter habitat so as to raise a greater sum of money to build a final much larger home.

15 Places to Find Free Pallets Near You

Then again one can purchase a home that is tiny from a number of places.

Do Tiny Houses Really Save You Money?

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 17,979

Re: DIY pallet home building

This post is reserved for an index to posts NewMars members may contribute over time.

The theme, of building a living space using lumber that is available after commercial use might stretch to other categories of material. In the early days of the United States, starting long before the nation was founded, enterprising settlers created their own components by harvesting wood from the land. That was a lot more work than taking apart commercially used wood such as pallets.

A challenge for designers of homes that might be built this way is using the available shapes.

Pallets have boards of a length on the order of four feet, and square blocks cut from 4x4 timber.

This topic certainly provides plenty of opportunity for creative thinking.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,257

Re: DIY pallet home building

There are also the much longer and odd ball sized pallets that get used as I have seen for the snow mobiles and other stuff. These can have long 2x4 of 8 to 10 ft in length as well as the wider than 4 ft pallet boards.
Sure, it's going to be some work to pull in the resources of these pallets and take them apart so as to be able to build with them but its free materials.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 17,979

Re: DIY pallet home building

For SpaceNut re #3 and new topic in general...

Do you have any experience trying to disassemble pallets?

I ask because I lived in relatively close proximity to a gent who operates a retail liquor establishment.  This gent apparently gets pallet loads of supplies, because he sets pallets out in the ally every now and then. Most of the time the alley gleaners do not make off with the pallets, so I have taken on the job of disassembling the pallets and cutting them up for the City disposal crews.  The pallets are usually difficult to work with, and the wood quality is low.

Having some experience with these materials, I have a sense of what a project it would be to try to make anything useful with them.

The extreme examples of large pallets are definitely interesting, but if your goal is to build a structure that is weather tight out of such materials, I would imagine you'd need a significant quantity, and I'm wondering what the actual supply might be.

In any case, you've launched an entire topic for NewMars members to report on their experiments with this feedstock.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,257

Re: DIY pallet home building

13 Different Types of Pallets (by Style, Design and Material)

hard wood mostly Oak but soft woods such as pine are just some of the types that can be found which include plastics.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,257

Re: DIY pallet home building

The Handy Way To Use Wood Pallets To Increase Your Closet Storage Space